Child Program

Vanderbilt Behavioral Health is the only provider of inpatient mental health services for children in Middle Tennessee. Through the Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital, we offer specialized services for children ages 4-12, who have trouble with emotions or behavior.

We provide a safe place for children to heal and learn positive behaviors. We also give patients and their families an aftercare plan to help continue progress after leaving the hospital.

Your child's personalized care plan will be created by our team that includes mental health specialists, nurses, social workers and nutritionists. Each childs inpatient care is supervised by a board-certified child psychiatrist. Most patients stay for an average of 5-7 days.

Our program features rules and routines, recreational and program activities, individual psychotherapy, incentives, hygiene education, anger management group, social skills and communication, individual therapy, psychopharmacology (treatment with medicine), a physical fitness program and family therapy.

Outpatient mental health services for children

Our outpatient clinics offer counseling to individuals and families who need help dealing with life transitions, abuse and depression.

At the Village at Vanderbilt, we can can assess your child, provide psychotherapy treatment, and help children adjust after leaving the hospital.

Children can also be seen in our integrated Mental Health Center, which includes therapists, nurse practitioners and child psychiatry fellows. We also have medical home clinics, where children can be seen by child psychiatrists or nurse practitioners.

Assessment

Our assessment measures the severity of your child's problem. We accept children who may be a danger to themselves or others. Our tests check to see if your child:

has learning problems that led to other emotional problems

has trouble with family relationships, playing with friends, or going to school

has hyperactive or behavior problems

has low self-esteem

has a medical history that creates other emotional problems

School programs

Our School Program provides care in 48 Nashville Public Schools. We have worked with children, adolescents and their families for over 20 years, and we serve about 900 students per year. Our team includes mental health therapists, nurse practitioners and child psychiatry fellows.

Through the exceptional capabilities and caring spirit of its people, Vanderbilt will lead in improving the healthcare of individuals and communities regionally, nationally and internationally. We will combine our transformative learning programs and compelling discoveries to provide distinctive personalized care.